Admittedly, I've got a thing for monumentsin the cultural landscape. This is a very nice article for a historical geographer on how memory and heritage are enshrined in the landscape; this process politicizes history in ways that shape the national narrative, and that shapes how we think in past. Using historical geography to understand the debates in the news? No way!! Here James Loewen writes in the Washington Post on the topic for a general audience.

Admittedly, I've got a thing for monuments in the cultural landscape. This is a very nice article for a historical geographer on how memory and heritage are enshrined in the landscape; this process politicizes history in ways that shape the national narrative, and that shapes how we think in past. Using historical geography to understand the debates in the news? No way!! Here James Loewen writes in the Washington Post on the topic for a general audience.

While people debate why the southern states actually seceded, there are many who still honor what they see as the gallantry of genteel southern society in the Southern Hemisphere. It is important to note that Brazil was chosen as the home of this 'Confederacy in Exile' because it was the last western country to abolish slavery (1888 it ended there too). Here is another article discussing the the Brazilian enclaves of 'Confederados,' or children of the unreconstructed South.

While people debate why the southern states actually seceded, there are many who still honor what they see as the gallantry of genteel southern society in the Southern Hemisphere. It is important to note that Brazil was chosen as the home of this 'Confederacy in Exile' because it was the last western country to abolish slavery (1888 it ended there too). Here is another article discussing the the Brazilian enclaves of 'Confederados,' or children of the unreconstructed South.

The debate over the causes for the Civil War are always amusing. The main cause for the war was undoubtedly the issue of slavery. The souths desperate attempts to hold on to the institution of slavery caused them to secede from the union. All of the major controversies between the north and the south before the actual war involved slavery in one form or another. The Missouri Compromise or Bleeding Kansas would be just a few examples of that cause. I can understand the urge of southerners to want to celebrate their heritage. The problem is, they are celebrating a history that never existed. To describe the Civil War as an honorable gentile cause to beet back northern aggression is just not history, it is myth. I was to surprised to see Confederate celebrations in Brazil. Though, sense they were the last nation in this Hemisphere to abolish slavery, it makes sense that some confederates would have fled there following the end of the war. Even more surprising was the fact that these heritage celebrations are biracial. The power of myth can sway many people to a particular celebration or cause.

"The city of Paris will start removing padlocks from the Pont des Arts on Monday, effectively ending the tourist tradition of attaching 'love locks' to the bridge. For years, visitors have been attaching locks with sentimental messages to the bridge in symbolic acts of affection. Some further seal the deal by throwing keys into the Seine River below. It was considered charming at first, but the thrill wore off as sections of fencing on the Pont des Arts crumbled under the locks' weight. The bridge carries more than 700,000 locks with an estimated combined weight roughly the same as 20 elephants."

Seth Dixon's insight:

Graffiti, tombstones, love locks, monuments...each of these are manifestations of people's desire to have some tangible impact on the landscape. Something that manifests a connection to place in a profoundly personal way.

Questions to Ponder: Why do people want leave a mark on places that are meaningful to them? When do you think that they that these markers are appropriate or inappropriate? Do we have more of a 'right' to mark some places than others? Why do many oppose these personal marks on the landscape?

I LOVE Seth Dixon's insight on this and how it figures in with Design Technology. What mark do we leave and why? What are the unintended consequences of leaving out mark?

Seth Dixon's insight:

Graffiti, tombstones, love locks, monuments...each of these are manifestations of people's desire to have some tangible impact on the landscape. Something that manifests a connection to place in a profoundly personal way.

Questions to Ponder: Why do people want leave a mark on places that are meaningful to them? When do you think that they that these markers are appropriate or inappropriate? Do we have more of a 'right' to mark some places than others? Why do many oppose these personal marks on the landscape?

Great discussion point for your classes! As Seth Dixon says why do people choose to leave a mark on certain places and is this appropriate? Could people be doing something else that doesn't have such a deleterious effect on it's environment?

The It Was Never a Dress campaign is not only taking social media by storm, it is also changing the way we view the traditional women's bathroom sign. We see that the men's figure wears pants and the women's symbol wears a dress, but what if it was never meant to be a dress in the first place? Tania Katan launched the popular #ItWasNeverADress campaign at last week's 'Girls in Tech' conference with the idea that the female figure is instead wearing a cape, asserting that women can be superheroes or anything else they choose to be."

Seth Dixon's insight:

These restroom signs are so ubiquitous that we might fail to realize how they are a part of the gendered landscape in which we live. This takes that well-known icon that was designed to generically represents women and makes us see the sign (and women maybe?) in a new light. It's delightfully playful and yet powerfully subversive; it challenges us to see beyond what we've been told to see and what society tells us what we should see. The designers called this "an invitation to shift perceptions and assumptions about women and the audacious, sensitive, and powerful gestures they make every single day."

Questions to Ponder: what other elements of the cultural landscape convey gendered messages? What impact do these message have?

In this article it suggest that the stereotypical dress for the the women bathroom sign is not a dress, but a cape. This hows that women can be superheroes or whatever they want to be. Still today there is a lack of women in he workforce compared to men. For every 4 men working working for Google there is 1 women and half of them quit because of the poor work environment. I think this helps represent that women are capable of anything. This is an example of women in the workforce and gender equity.

Summary: This article basically explains the story of the recently emerged #ItWasNeverADress campaign. This is a pretty cool article because I never really payed attention to how even a restroom sign could be considered gender inequality.

Insight: This article is relevant to unit 6 because gender inequality is an important measure of development.

"The state transportation authority relies on federal guidelines that outline what it can put on signs, and these rules say signs must use only 'standard English characters, so when we replaced the sign, we didn’t put the umlaut in.' On Wednesday, the state’s governor put his foot down: The dots were coming back."

Seth Dixon's insight:

The cultural landscape isn't just passively 'there.' It is purposefully created, defended, protected and resisted by national, regional and local actors. This example might seem laughable to the national media, but this was a serious matter to those locally that pride themselves on the town's Swedish heritage. Many want to preserve it's distinctively Swedish characteristics as a part of it's sense of place, but also it's economic strategy to appeal to tourists.

The government of the People’s Republic of China calls the country’s westernmost region Xinjiang, but the people who have lived there for centuries refer to their home as Eastern Turkistan. Many times when two groups do not refer to a place by the same name, it points to a cultural or political conflict, as is the case here.

Seth Dixon's insight:

Multiple names on the map can hint at bigger cultural and political fault lines. Is it Londonderry or just Derry? The Sea of Japan or the East Sea? This article I wrote for the National Geographic Education Blog is on the always simmering tensions in the China's westernmost province.

The region in North-west China where the indigenous people refer to home as Eastern Turkistan is being stripped by the Chinese government. They are banned from practicing their religion of Islam and cannot wear certain clothing that they are accustomed to. This is an example of History repeating itself, similarly to the United States government treating Native Americans and their way of life. Ultimately, it is important that the people of Eastern Turkistan has the right to practice in what they believed in, so that they do not lose their identity, culture and heritage.

Going by either the name Xinjiang or Eastern Turkistan, Sometimes when people cannot agree on the name of a single place there is conflict, but apparently not here. it became an economic hub after they extracted natural gas, oil, and coal. Because of its location, a lot of the people in the area are Turkish and are Muslim. The Chinese government does not really like this and they are doing what they can to get rid of the Muslim ways, for example, one thing they have done is denounce the hijab, or ban any religious displays. .

it seems that this a a recurring theme with china. disputed lands surround this country inside and out, they claim to own all of it as well. but when the people that live their claim to be independent and choose not to associate themselves with you than it creates and interesting dynamic.

In the small town of Nagoro, population 35, one woman is trying to save her village from extinction by creating life-sized dolls for every inhabitant who either dies or moves away.

Seth Dixon's insight:

Japan has experienced rural to urban migration for decades now; simultaneously, Japan's fertility rates have dropped far below replacement level. While Tokyo is still bustling, small villages are shrinking to the point of disappearing. This is a haunting and yet touching tribute to these emerging ghost towns. It seems like a memorial to enshrine a sense of place before the memory of this place is forever eradicated--like a an earthen dam .

Due to urban migration, this village of Nagoro is said to be one of 10,000 small towns that will disappear in Japan. I've been to some small towns in Japan and can say there is so much more culture in these villages than there is in the big cities. I got a totally different feeling in my sole than when I ended my trip in Tokyo. While both parts of the country have its pros and cons, it is terrible to think that these villages will be defeated to the rise of urbanism.

It has been estimated that in the coming years 80% of people will live within mega cities. This is that statistic unraveling before our eyes. It is really sad to me because these within these small villages is a culture that is almost like an art in its own right. It is clear to see the impacts it has on the remaining villagers.

A depressing but also fascinating situation in Japan. Their Urban migration coupled by an aging population is wiping out their villages around the country. One women has even apparently been filling the village with dolls to make it seem more populated. How she got her neighbors to approve and where all the resources and money came from to pull that off who knows. However what is being witness now is a change in demographic but also one in geography since the village in 30 or so years could be reclaimed by the wilderness while the cities expand and have to cope with the influx taking away more wild land. Hopefully Japan gets this straightened out for they currently seem to be having the exact opposite demographic problem of China and India.

"Defensive architecture is revealing on a number of levels, because it is not the product of accident or thoughtlessness, but a thought process. It is a sort of unkindness that is considered, designed, approved, funded and made real with the explicit motive to exclude and harass. It reveals how corporate hygiene has overridden human considerations…"

The government should try to develop better methods to keep homeless out of the street. Planning and designating a place to the homeless group by offering better conditions, will change the problem. As the architects have new ideas to resolve a problem with the homeless, they should also be formulating ideas to prevent homelessness such as providing feasible shelter on the street. Part of the problem is that shelters should be marketed in the communities. Local businesses, policies and general communities could be more active in helping these minority groups to get aid and better their life. Cities should provide more programs and aid for the homeless group.

These structures such as benches with dividers that make it impossible to lie down, spikes and protrusions on window ledges and in front of store windows, forests of pointed cement structures under bridges and freeways, emissions of high pitched sounds, and sprinklers that intermittently go off on sidewalks to prevent camping overnight are very rude and without a shadow of a doubt send a message to the homeless that they aren't welcomed, and we will do whatever it takes to make sure they cannot be comfortable; even something as simple as sitting on a windowsill.

This article deals with unit 7 because it discusses architecture and new things in cities. In some cities they have defensive architecture to make it harder for homeless people to live. For example benches with dividers, and pointed cement structures under bridges. This tells the homeless they are unwanted and that others don't care about them.Some corporations have turned to aggressive ways to keep out homeless and the article says the government is denying it. In addition there are few resources to help the homeless and what they do have is insufficient. It also notes that free shelters are very rare. The author says that we should worry a little more about the homeless because "given just the right turn of events, it could happen to us."

For decades the leading nature writer has been collecting unusual words for landscapes and natural phenomena – from aquabob to zawn. It’s a lexicon we need to cherish in an age when a junior dictionary finds room for ‘broadband’ but has no place for ‘bluebell’

Canada is a massive country, yet it has one of the lowest population densities in the world. Despite this, Canadians have made a wide impact on their land, much of it visible from aerial and satellite photography. Hydroelectric facilities, roads, mines, farms, ports, resource exploration, logging, canals, cities, and towns have altered much of the landscape over the years.

Seth Dixon's insight:

This is a great set of images showing the human impact on the environment, with a special nod to our neighbors for the north. These images have an artistic beauty and I hope every geographer maintains a sense of wonder at the details and beauty of the Earth.

America has more than 5,000 prisons. This is what they look like on our landscape.

Begley’s images capture the massive scale of this entire industry and the land that we devote to it (America has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but houses a quarter of the world’s prisoners). His website, in fact, includes only about 14 percent of all of the prisons he’s captured (each one is scaled to the same size).

This article is interesting from a geographic and social perspective, because the overhead pictures show just how much we alter the land with our prisons. What is really interesting is how the US has less than five percent of the world's population but has one quarter of its prisoners. Because of this, it can be inferred that the country has many prisons. Yet, what astonished me about the prisons is that they seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. The buildings seem expansive on the landscape and dominate it. It just makes me wonder, how much does the United States spend on building and up-keeping these complexes.

This article explores a graphic representation of the quantity and volume of prisons throughout the United States. The project has no figures, statistics, or words - the pictures stand on their own as statements about the growing amount and size of prisons across the country. The photos show many rural prisons that house prisoners from urban areas, which changes both the areas where the prisons are and the areas that the inmates came from.

The photos are an intriguing visual of the money and materials put into prison systems in the United States. The photographer (Josh Begley) noted that upon seeing all the images together, the thing that stood out to him was that there were baseball fields in almost all of them. He says, "the baseball field mimicked the form about these buildings as well. There was something very American about it when I first saw it."

It's surprising to see how much material is necessary to, as the article described it, "warehouse" people. While prisons do more than just house inmates, seeing a visual representation of all the money put into prisons in the United States makes me wonder whether it could be better spent on reformed versions of prisons, rather than on maintaining the ones we already have and the new ones just like those that are currently being constructed.

These picture demonstrate the power of satellite imagery and technology perfectly. While I am amazed by the sheer beauty in spatial organization and design by these prisons, I am horrified at the maps incarcerations that are occurring in America, especially the mass incarceration of poverty stricken minorities in America. Prisons demonstrate a larger social issue than what I previously thought. I never knew that such a thing as prison-based gerrymandering could even exist. Prisons demonstrate economic and political problems as well. With more prisons, state must allocate more of their budget to supporting these facilities. The fact that so many prisons are being built demonstrate a larger problem in the political world, and that maybe there is an issue with the justice system. Fixing the system would allow for states to allocate more money that would have been use on supporting prisons to supporting education and helping those who are less privileged.

Two French photographers immortalize the remains of the motor city on film. Pictured above is the Packard Plant; luxury-auto maker Packard produced its last car here in 1956. To see more work by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, visit their website.

The AME church in Charleston S.C. was targeted in a racist-motivated terrorist attack this week. Many racial issues have come to the fore in the wake of this attack. Two flags were lowered more than 100 miles away in Columbia, the state’s capital, the one's picture above flying on the dome of the state house. Whether South Carolina politicians want to or not, the issue of the Confederate Battle Flag has resurfaced because as a sanctioned part of the cultural landscape, it's symbolism is continually called into question.

History (and sometimes, unfortunately, current events) shows us just how easily national borders can change, but we still like to think that they are permanent fixtures. These photos of different national borders around the world show you how both friendly and hostile nations like to fence off their turf.

Seth Dixon's insight:

Borders can make for some striking manifestations of power on the landscape. On the other hand as seen in this picture of Slovakia, Austria and Hungary, friendship and cooperation can also be inscribed into the landscape. There are some great teaching images in this gallery.

After viewing news photographs from China for years, one of my favorite visual themes is "large crowd formations." Whether the subject is military parades or world-record attempts, mass exercises or enormous performances, the images are frequently remarkable. The masses of people can look beautiful or intimidating, projecting a sense of strength and abundance. Individuals can become pixels in a huge painting, or points on a grid, or echoes of each other in identical uniforms or costumes.

These photos invoke both a sense of beauty and intimidation. The photos themselves are majestic. They are almost perfect creations of art. The photos also invoke a sense of intimidation and dread. The Chinese have mastered the art of propaganda. They know how to put on a display that invokes both power and fear. Many of their photos involve military parades. The entire point of parading your military is to show both power and intimidation. It is both a threat and honor at the same time.

there were two things i learned from this. first, the Chinese are an insanely regimented society. the government can instill in soldiers the discipline to march in such an exact manner that it looks like a lineup of mirrors. second, the Chinese will beat you at any numbers based world record that catches their attention.

While I'll admit that most of these cell towers aren't fooling anyonethat they are actually blending into the local landscape and ecosystem, there is a reason that we work to conceal elements of modern infrastructure that are considered unsightly.

And they are emitting vast amounts of electrosmog! What would happen to our society (civilization?) if all these electro-magnetic field emitting technologies would be seen to be more destructive to our health than we are led to believe?

"OTR A.D.O.P.T. transfers abandoned buildings to qualified new owners at reduced cost. The catch? You must commit to rehabilitating the property and returning it to productive use. You must also demonstrate an ability to successfully complete such a project. A.D.O.P.T.-Advancing Derelict and Obsolete Properties Through Transfer."

"Ever since I researched the meanings of monuments in the cultural landscape in Mexico City, I’ve been fascinated by the cultural politics of memory and heritage. The removal of a statue is a cultural 180, acknowledging what was once honored and revered is now something that is not worthy of that distinction. This sort of change is not without protests on both sides and a cultural rearticulation of who 'we' are when 'we' make a public memorial."

Seth Dixon's insight:

Cecil Rhodes was the namesake for the Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University and the colonial names of Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia). He was deeply connected to British colonialism and was one of the most ambitious colonizers that expanded the British Empire. This week a statue of Cecil Rhodes on the University of Cape Town campus was removed. See the BBC article, Yahoo News!, and PRI podcastfor more details.

Questions to Ponder: Why do you think this monument to Cecil Rhodes was established in 1934? Why was it removed in 2015? What does this say about South African politics and culture? How might we characterize the supporters and opponents of the statue?

I have been to South Africa. The country is very still divided in many ways. My question is do our American students even know the history and geography of Africa? Do they know how the Europeans partitioned the continent ( divvied it up and laid claim to regions ) and that they did this across tribal lands to cause difficulty.

I understand the Rhodes scholarship, but it would be good for students and teachers to have ideationa scaffolding to understand the problems of today caused by practices of yesterday.

The removal of an historical statue, is a broader reflection of what the population of a particular place is thinking. Who a people choose to honor, is a statement of the ideals they hope to espier to. For many people in South Africa, Cecil Rhodes is a symbol of racist colonial tendencies. You can not separate Rhodes from the age of western imperialism. He was one of the leading figures in the scramble for Africa in the late 19th century. In the United States we have seen a similar push to remove statues of historical figures with connections to slavery and racism. Many have called for the removal of statues honoring confederate leaders such as Jefferson Davis or Robert E Lee. The push has even spread to figures beyond those directly connected to the confederacy. The democratic party has removed the names of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from there annual party dinners. There connections with slavery and Native American treatment are just too much for some outraged democrats to handle. I am uneasy about the removals of these statues. History can never be erased. It is futile, to even attempt to do such a thing. Historical figures should be judged by the context of the times in which they lived. It is unfair to judge Thomas Jefferson by the standards of our modern age society. The overt political correctness is troubling to say the least. It is a whitewash of history.

"How do you raise awareness about population explosion? One group thought that the simplest way would be to show people in pictures the impact of population, pollution and consumption."

Seth Dixon's insight:

This gallery is filled with excellent "teaching images" on human and environmental interactions and all aspects of geography--the one picture above shows how Mexico City has enveloped even the rolling hills as a part of its urban expansion.

It is absolutely astounding to me how we are so continually growing and expanding as a human race. What's more astounding to me is how quickly we are depleting and wasting all of the resources we have been given. Don't get me wrong, I was aware there were 7 pushing 8 billion of us on the planet, but growing up in the suburbs I wasn't as aware of it as I could have been. Ignorance is bliss, right? It breaks my heart to see the clearing of beautiful forests, the once turquoise water of Haiti filled with trash, and the death of animals that accidentally stumbled upon our waste. If we as humans don't start taking care of our planet, there won't be any where left for us to over populate, or even populate for that matter.

These eye opening photos paint a perfect picture of what the world will be like in years to come if we keep living the way we do. There are pictures of trash waves, extreme deforestation, hill-side slums, thousands of fields of oil wells, and overwhelming crowds of people.

"Oldest and most incredible footage of New York City ever, including where the WTC would be built. With added maps carefully researched to show where the camera was. 28 shots of classic footage circa 1905." http://tinyurl.com/ohsuobg

"During the past two years, Kien Lam went on the kind of trip most could only dream about. The photographer wanted to "see as much of the world as possible," so he visited 15 countries around the globe, from Mexico to New Zealand, snapping more than 10,000 photographs along the way. He edited his work together to make this stupendous time-lapse, which may be one of the most envy-inducing travel diaries I've ever seen."

This time-lapse is one of the most amazing videos I've ever seen. Displaying the street-life in India, sand dunes in Arizona, the coast of Cozumel, coral reefs in Australia, mountains in Nepal, a castle in Scotland, Dubai's bright night lights, hobbit holes in the Shire and so many more amazing places captured in a few short seconds. It truly makes me feel like I traveled the world in 4.5 minutes.

This video is geared for photographers, demonstrating the technical abilities of camera, but the images of the varied housing types and skylines of Rio de Janeiro are stunning. To appreciate the favelas and Sugarloaf Mountains more fully, maximize the display and watch on the largest screen possible.

"This is a film by the Chicago Board Of Education, produced sometime in the 1940s. This film could have been geared towards tourism or to entice companies to come to Chicago or used in the classroom. The great thing about this film reel, is all the different views of the city they give."

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